A massive fire stemming from a possible explosion in east Baltimore destroyed a rowhome Wednesday afternoon, killed a child walking past the home and injured three others. George Lettis has more on the late-breaking story.

SkyTeam 11 Capt. Roy Taylor initially reported there was an explosion at a rowhome with possible damage to an adjacent home. Smoke could be seen billowing into the air, with flames shooting up and bricks strewn all over the street.

City fire officials said two children walking by after leaving nearby William Paca Elementary School were hit by bricks that fell off the back of the house, killing one of them. The child who died was found beneath the rubble. Baltimore Fire Department on Thursday identified the child as 8-year-old Troy Douglas.

"It is certainly tragic to lose a child that young that suddenly," said city fire spokesman Ian Brennan.

Officials said the other child managed to escape with injuries, was taken to a hospital and is expected to be OK. His identity has not yet been released.

"It was a whole bunch of kids walking home from school," said witness Antonie Preeden. "There was a lot of little kids right there, so they started running. There were a lot of people saying there was somebody under the bricks, so they tried to get him up." (story continues below)

One man who only identified himself as Thomas told 11 News he heard what he described as an explosion that shook his house.

"It was a great boom, so I didn't know whether it was possibly a gunshot or someone possibly hitting someone's car," Thomas said. "I came outside, and a buddy of mine ran past, saying a couple of the kids were possibly trapped underneath."

Thomas, who said he was ex-military and had some emergency training, said he and others ran to the scene.

"We were able to recover one of the kids. They said unfortunately there were more, with possibly other people inside. We couldn't get to that because the fire was already catching," he said.

Thomas said people were coming from everywhere and that the scene looked like a block party, filled with people trying to help.

Amateur video showed people in the neighborhood going through the rubble looking for victims, but soon the small fire in the house grew too hot to handle. More amateur video showed how big it got once firefighters arrived.

Fire officials said two adults in the house were hospitalized with serious burns.

"The lady who was in the house, she jumped out the back window, and she just got up and brushed herself off and came to the front of the house," Preeden said. "She was just like, 'Oh my gosh.'"

"You could see their skin peeled off, like it burned. The skin on their arms was burnt real bad," said witness Melissa McCoy. "They were in a state of shock. They didn't know what was going on. They were walking like they couldn't believe it."

The identities and conditions of those who were injured weren't released.

Dozens of firefighters continued to search the building debris Wednesday evening for other possible victims, but none were found.

BGE crews remained at the scene Thursday morning, helping officials try to figure out a cause and identify if there was actually an explosion. Crews said they're also looking at the infrastructure of their lines because so much debris came down.

"They just let me know that I was in their prayers, that this was a sad tragedy that happened and they wanted to come check on me to see how I was doing, to see how I was handling it," victim's mother Shanika Brown said.

Brown said she went to the scene after her son did not return home from school.

"When my son called me and told me Troy wasn't home from school and that's the way he walks, right there, on that side of the street, I went down there to see if I'd see my son, but I didn't," Brown said.

Firefighters continued investigating Thursday and were checking to make sure infrastructure near the home was not damaged.

Resident Shannon Fernandez said she talked to the neighbors that lived in the home two weeks ago and that they were complaining about gas and electrical problems.

"They said they made two complaints about their furnace, the gas lines being rusted and corroded leading into their furnace," Fernandez said.

But city officials said the home was last inspected in December 2013 and no health or safety issues were found and that there were no records of calls being made to the city's 311 line.

As Brown waits for answers about her son's death, she described her son as having lots of friends.

"Troy was a sweet child, outgoing. He loved to play video games, basketball, hanging out with his friends. He was just lovable," Brown said.

Grief counselors were on hand at William Paca Elementary where Troy attended school and by the end of the day, Red Cross had added additional counselors.

Neighbors in the area said they have been smelling gas for a while. Officials said that is under investigation.